Long Road Home
by Time Space and Mayhem
Summary: Gabriel is back after supposedly being killed by Lucifer, but he's on the run and his powers are wearing thin. When Sam and Dean are threatened, he tries to get them both to safety but can only save Dean. Gabriel and Sam suffer an unusual fate and have to make it back to Dean before the changes become permanent.
1. Chapter 1

It was supposed to be a normal night.  
A normal night after a hunt with some beer, and some bad motel television followed by much needed and pined for sleep.  
So it was a complete surprise for both Sam and Dean when Gabriel burst through the window, weapons in hand and blood on his face. Sam was the first to react, jumping up in surprise.  
"Gabriel?"  
Dean had been closer to the window and was hit with flying shards of glass.  
"Sam, Dean. There's no time to explain, we have to-"  
There was a huge gust of wind and the rest of the windows shattered. In the midst of the mess, three gloomy figures stood there, towering over Gabriel and the Winchesters.  
The three figures raised their hands together, creating a glowing blue light.  
"You can't have them," Gabriel shouted, putting his hands on Dean and Sam's shoulders.  
"Brace yourselves," he whispered to them, porting them away just as the blue light erupted.

"What was that?" Dean shouted as he recovered from the fall. Gabriel had taken them - not swiftly at all - to some unidentified building for a yet to be identified reason. He'd miscalculated their landing, and zapped them there three feet above the ground.  
Sam stood up, cracking his neck side to side and then holding out a hand for Gabriel, who almost seemed too weak to do it himself.  
"And how the hell are you alive?" Sam asked, gripping Gabriel's hand tight to make sure that Gabriel was actually there.  
"Listen guys, it's a long story-"  
"Then shorten it," Dean growled.  
Gabriel ran his hand through his hair and then sighed. "When I was killed by my brother, the archangel in me died. Little did I know... I've been living long enough as a Trickster that it's become a part of who I am. Even though the archangel is dead half is dead... well I'm still here."  
Sam and Dean made eye contact, both of their foreheads creasing as they processed the information.  
"How long have you been around for?"  
Gabriel thought about it for a moment. "Well I woke up shortly after I was killed, lying alive between my wings."  
Dean's mouth practically fell open. "Are you telling me you've been messing around for the past few years and you didn't think it might have been important to, I don't know? Tell us?"  
"Hey," Gabriel said, pointing his finger. "I didn't come back full blast, alright? I had to regain my strength, and yes it took a while."  
"Are you at full strength now?" Sam asked, the calmest of the three in the room.  
Gabriel shook his head. "No. Almost, but no. I was laying low for a while. Coming to see you two would be one of the stupidest things I could do. You two are like magnets - something would find me and I wouldn't be ready. And well, other than you two there's no one I would go see anyway."  
"So why the change of plans? I'm assuming those guys back there had something to do with it," Sam commented, looking around the room quickly to make sure their visitors from before weren't hiding in any corners.  
"When I lived, I broke some rules. Your not really supposed to, how do I put it, be two conscious creatures in one. The things back there you saw? I'm guessing they are the consequences of what happened." He paused and looked around like Sam had, reassuring himself that they weren't being stalked. "They found me a month ago and I've been trying to avoid them ever since, looking for some way to get rid of them. So far I haven't found any... but running away has been pretty effective so far. Last time they came to see me though, they told me they were going to come and find you next time I ran."  
"So you zapped into our motel and grabbed us," Dean said, running his hand over his jaw. "And now they're hunting us. Great. What's the plan now?"  
Gabriel shrugged. "I don't really have one."  
Sam frowned and almost spoke, but Gabriel just held up his hand and stopped him.  
"I do have an idea though, it's just not concrete. I'm pretty sure they are trying to send me into an alternate world, or something like that, where I'll be powerless. They can't necessarily kill me unless they stake me, like you would with a proper trickster, but what you guys probably didn't notice is that they don't have hands. They just have stumps that they use to create their sickly blue flames. I've looked as far into the matter as possible and all I can tell is the flames are almost like a portal."  
"They want to punish you."  
"Basically."  
"So what's the idea then?" Dean asked, hoping to speed this conversation along.  
"A counter spell. If I have full power, I should be able to reverse what they are trying to do, which should kill them in the process."  
Sam clapped his hands together. "Alright, well how long until you have full power?"  
"More importantly how long do we have until they come back?" Dean asked.  
"To answer both of your questions... I have no idea."  
"Perfect. Just perfect," Dean said, frustrated.  
"You really want to talk to the guy who saved your asses like that?"  
"In the process of saving our asses that guy also confirmed our deaths."  
"I have plan!"  
"That might not work!"  
"Enough!" Sam shouted, silencing his brother and the trickster. "We were dead anyway," he said, directing that comment at Dean. "And guys, we are all a part of this now so can we not fight."  
Dean and Gabriel both had an annoyed look on their faces but neither of them said anything.  
"Okay I guess that-"  
"Uh guys?" Dean said, slapping his hand on Sam's chest. "We have company."  
The three of them stared across the large, empty room at the three ghostly figures they'd encountered before.  
"Crap," Gabriel muttered. "We have to leave." He put his hands on Dean and Sam's shoulder and they disappeared in the blink of an eye.  
Except for Sam.  
Sam looked around, expecting to see a new environment, but instead was welcomed by the exact same scene he was in before.  
The three figures were walking slowly towards him, raising their hands together as blue flames were swelling to life.  
Sam could see now that Gabriel was right, and they didn't have any hands - just stumps. He was also pretty sure they had no faces beneath their ragged hoods that dropped down to their necks.  
"Gabriel?" he called out, looking around, as he was backed up against the wall. "Gabriel!"  
His shouts rendered no results.

"Where's Sam," Dean demanded immediately as they stumbled into their new location.  
Gabriel glanced around the room, "Oh God," he muttered as he slowly realized what was happening.  
"Where's Sam," Dean shouted again, leaping up from the ground and practically pouncing on Gabriel.  
Gabriel pushed back Dean, but he was weak. Dean could tell he was weak. "I'm not used to this much activity in one day. It's hard enough trying to take three bodies at a time... but to have to do it more than once-"  
"Go back and get him," Dean growled.  
"Dean, he might already be dead."  
"No. You brought us into this mess you go back and get him."  
Gabriel ran his fingers through his hair. "Fine. But if we don't return, we're probably dead."  
"Gabriel wait," Dean said, squeezing Gabriel's arm hard. "Can you attempt the counter spell?"  
"Maybe."  
"And Gabriel-"  
But Gabriel was already gone, leaving Dean to wait by himself.

Bullets didn't have any impact on the figures, Sam had figured out.  
He was sure he was about to die, when suddenly Gabriel appeared in front of him.  
"Gabriel!" Sam yelled, confused, relieved and worried all at once.  
"I'm going to try the spell," Gabriel said loudly. They needed to raise their voices or else the other wouldn't be able to hear. As the figures were getting closer, there was a sharp buzzing and the walls around them had started to crumble, loud crashes echoing around the large room.  
"What? But you aren't powerful enough are you?"  
"I won't be able to get both of us out of here, so this is the only option I have."  
Sam suddenly understood what had happened when Gabriel and Dean had disappeared. Gabriel obviously wasn't powerful enough to bring all three, and with the added stress on his abilities with getting himself back to Sam was too much. The spell would be weak but it was the only way they'd have any chance of living.  
"Do it," Sam yelled.  
"Hold onto me and close your eyes or you'll die."  
Sam didn't question it, and just did what he was told, getting behind Gabriel and holding onto the trickster's chest, burying his head down so that he wouldn't be exposed to the light.  
Gabriel muttered something under his breath and held his hands up.  
"I'm ready now, bitches," he muttered, just as the blue flames were released and shot at Sam and Gabriel. Gabriel's eyes glowed green as his own spell took place and pushed away the blue.  
He could feel all of his powers being drained away as he tried so hard to push away the blue portal. There was an explosion as Gabriel's abilities finally gave out and every ounce of his energy escaped him. It was the final push of his power that collided with the flames, causing Gabriel and Sam's bodies to be thrown up into the air, and then down directly into the flames beneath.  
Everything went black.


	2. Chapter 2

Sam's entire body was hurting. It felt like he had burns, and when he tried to move his muscles, it felt like he'd never moved them before at all.  
Slowly, he opened his eyes, but the room was blurry.  
He was almost positive now that he had survived the explosion, but he wasn't sure about Gabriel. If he could move, or could see anything, he might have sprung up and looked for the trickster, but he was devoid of any movements so he was forced to just sit there and wait until he adjusted.  
He heard a short buzz in his ear.  
He moved his mouth to try and speak, but he couldn't find a way to work his vocal chords.  
The short buzz came back again and again until he could finally make out a "Sam."  
It was Gabriel's voice.  
"Ga...brie..." his voice was coming out in a growl, but he wasn't sure why. His vision was starting to come back to him, and he could tell now that he was lying on his side, his face pressed against the floor.  
"Sam, are you alright?"  
Sam pressed down onto his side, trying to lift himself up but his entire body felt so wrong, that at this point he was sure 90% of his bones were broken.  
"Gabriel?" Sam's voice was clearer now and his vision was back. "I feel... messed up."  
"Yeah, I'm going to let you figure that one out on your own."  
Sam didn't know what Gabriel was talking about until he rolled over onto his back to come face to face with an orange tabby cat.  
"I'm a cat, Sam."  
"Gabriel?!" Sam exclaimed, so surprised that he pushed himself backwards, rolling over once and up onto his feet.  
But they weren't really feet, Sam discovered as he looked down to see paws.  
"What the hell!"  
He took a step back, trying to get away from the paws on the ground, not believing they belonged to him. He looked up at the cat - Gabriel - then back down at his paws. He did this a couple of times before feeling his eyes get heavy, and he fell down to the floor, blacking out once again.

"Sam, wake up," Sam could hear Gabriel saying, feeling a finger poking at his back.  
He woke up fairly easily, just blinking a little bit.  
"Are we alive?"  
"Yes Sam, we are alive," Gabriel said, a hint of impatience in his voice.  
"While I was out... I thought I was... that we were," he rolled over, like he had the first time he'd woken up and came face to face with the same orange tabby cat.  
"Gabriel, you are a cat!" He yelled.  
"Sam, you are a dog."  
"What the hell," he muttered as he looked down at his paws and realized that what he thought he'd imagined... he hadn't imagined after all. "What happened?" he asked, looking at Gabriel for answers.  
If cat's could shrug, that's what Sam would have said Gabriel did. "When we fell, we should have been ported into another world, into new lives I'm pretty sure. My counter spell was supposed to keep us in this world and destroy them and their spell. I wasn't powerful enough to keep us in our human vessels, but powerful enough to keep us here."  
"Is this permanent?"  
"I don't think so. I'm pretty sure there is a way to put an animal soul into a human body, so I'm sure there is a way to put a human soul inside an animal body back into a human body."  
"But our bodies are gone."  
"Body restoration won't be a problem. That's easy even for a trickster."  
Sam exhaled loudly as he thought about their situation. He'd have to get accustomed to this body quickly, which he was pretty sure he could do. Admittedly he'd been in worse situations, and he was only thankful he was alive, even if being a dog was rather inconvenient.  
"So what do we do?"  
"We need to find your brother. We won't be able to change ourselves back as animals, and your brother is the only one who knows that I'm even alive."  
Sam nodded. "Okay great. Where is he exactly?"  
"That's the thing... I'm pretty he's in a motel somewhere in Montana, but I don't know the location. You know your brother best, where would he go if we didn't return after a day or so?"  
There were a few places Dean could go, but they didn't have a home per say, and Dean was definitely a traveler. It was only a guess but-  
"Raxleton. We have a cottage in Raxleton that's been our meeting place since Bobby's house burned down." He cringed when he mentioned Bobby. It was still a fresh wound to say the least. "It's possible, but knowing Dean he could also be out looking for us. Where are we exactly?"  
"To hell if I know. I didn't catch the state name, because I was trying to bring three bodies through to this place."  
"Only a set back..."  
Gabriel jumped down from the box he'd been perched on while Sam had been unconscious.  
"Well I guess we better get out of here and find out where we are."  
"Before we go, Gabriel, I just have a question. I'm a dog... and you're a cat. How are we communicating? And why is my vision like a humans vision."  
"When the flames faded, we were still in the process of changing into animals, but the process wasn't complete. Basically we got a couple of human perks."  
A thought crossed Sam's mind. "Does that mean... we are speaking English?"  
Gabriel laughed a strange, meow-like laugh. "I'm pretty sure that's not the case. You seemed to adjust to the idea of being a dog pretty fast, eh?"  
"I'm trying not to think about it."

When the building had been crumbling from the blue-flame people, many holes had been created in the walls, so it was easy for the two of them to get outside. It had turned out that they were in a ware-house like building that was seemingly abandoned. Surrounding the area was a forest to one side and a road to the other.  
Sam was having a hard time communicating to his legs what he wanted them to do, and found himself falling over more than once. Gabriel took to the cat like body with ease, slinking his shoulders in what looked like a practiced motion. Sam wondered if perhaps Gabriel had ever been in a cat's body before...  
"Something funny?" Gabriel asked.  
"Nope," Sam said, finding the thought of Gabriel being stuck in a cat's body before this time amusing.  
"You're walking stupid," Gabriel just said in response, knowing Sam's laugh was probably about him.  
They walked for a while in silence down the road. They assumed a town was up ahead by the amount of cars going their way.  
"What kind of dog am I?" Sam asked. He wasn't educated in the area of dogs. All he could tell was that he was big. And brown. Big and brown.  
"A German Shepard. It fits well considering your size as a human."  
"Yup, and a tiny cat to fit your size as well."  
"Watch it," Gabriel said, sounding a little cross.  
Sam wondered why Gabriel would be upset about some teasing, but he realized why after a while more of walking in silence.  
"You don't have any powers anymore."  
"Obviously."  
"I mean, I knew that before but I never really thought about how you might be feeling about losing your abilities and everything."  
"I'm fine."  
"That's what Dean says when he feels like shit."  
"Yes well, like Dean would say 'no heart to heart moments', okay?"  
Sam was right. Gabriel was obviously upset, and if he didn't want to discuss it that was fine.  
It was odd that Sam wanted to make conversation with Gabriel. Well to him it was.  
Gabriel tortured him and Dean, and made it his mission to humiliate them for his own amusement. He shouldn't be able to stand walking beside the guy... but Gabriel was different now, and he was different when he stood up for Lucifer. Gabriel didn't want to hurt Sam and Dean, and he didn't want to see them die either. That's why he'd come back to protect them the day before, and why he'd come back for Sam and told him to hold on tight as he fought for their lives.  
It wasn't like Dean to look past people's mistakes most of the time, but Sam was one to believe that people could change.  
Gabriel and Sam didn't say a word as they got down to the bottom of the road and turned down the next one.  
Sam found that he was getting used to dog body, and walking wasn't as much of a burden anymore. After twenty more minutes of walking, Sam finally broke the silence.  
"Thank you."  
Gabriel looked up at Sam and then back down at the ground. "For what?"  
"Just... everything, I guess."  
Gabriel nodded but didn't respond. Instead he changed the subject, which Sam wasn't expecting.  
"I do feel like shit."  
"Hm?"  
"About not having any power. I feel like everything I've ever had or been has been stripped from me and it's all just a memory. I've never not had power. It feels like all of my energy is completely gone, and I'm nothing."  
"You're basically human," Sam said, saying what he knew Gabriel was thinking. "Except of course your in a cat body."  
"I always liked humans, you know?"  
Sam couldn't help but laugh. "Liked to torture them."  
"Hey, hey, hey now. Only the ones who deserve it."  
Sam thought about that. "So Dean and I deserve that?"  
Gabriel did that cat shrug that he'd done earlier that Sam thought looked both funny and natural. "That wasn't really torture. I was just trying to teach you guys a lesson."  
"Killing my brother 100 times isn't torture? Because I'd beg to differ."  
"I went too far, I get it. But I didn't really have a choice."  
"You always have a choice."  
"Well you sure proved that."  
Sam wasn't sure if that was a compliment, but he took it as one anyway.  
They kept walking for a while longer before a town came into view in front of them. When they emerged from the forest, Sam had mixed feelings about going into town. He wanted to go in to find out where they were and how they were going to get to Raxelton from there. He also didn't want to go in because he felt... like a dog.  
"Come on," Gabriel said, swiftly jumping onto the fence of someones backyard.  
"I'm not a cat, I can't jump fences."  
"Not my problem. Meet you in town," Gabriel said, before diving down into the backyard and out of Sam's view.  
Sam sighed.  
He was pretty sure out of the two of them, he had it worse.


	3. Chapter 3

_**I really like the ending of this chapter, I hope you all enjoy it 3 thanks to everyone for reading**_

The sun had started to set on the small town that Gabriel and Sam stumbled into.  
Sam was walking slowly down the street, used to his German Shepard body by now, searching for Gabriel. He hadn't seen the cat since earlier.  
At first he'd avoided wandered through the streets, trying to avoid people and just staying hidden between houses and stores. By the later part of the afternoon he had decided that his time would better be spent figuring out where they were.  
He revealed himself from the shadows and made his way down the sidewalk, tongue hanging out jollily. A couple people ruffled him on the top of the head, a feeling that felt surprisingly good to Sam.  
He could tell there weren't many people living in the town just be the small size. He poked his head into a couple of shops, and watched from windows as stores got hardly any business, but were very friendly to everyone who came in, greeting everyone like they were a neighbour - which they probably were.  
He'd found out that they'd landed in a small town called "Rubart" somewhere in the east of Colorado. He figured it out when he found a newspaper on someone's front lawn. He'd carried it in his mouth over to a small patch of trees and attempted to open it up over there. It was hard... seeing as he didn't have thumbs. He missed having thumbs.  
Colorado was good, that means they were close to Kansas where Dean would be waiting for them.  
Sam supposed him and Gabriel could just get on the bus or get a car and -  
He suddenly remembered they were animals and sighed, which came out like a soft whine.  
They needed a plan b then... trains? Sam seemed to have a memory of movies where animals snuck onto trains - hopping on them before they left and then jumping off while they were still moving so as not to be discovered by the humans at the next station.  
He couldn't get a name to the image in his head, but he guessed it was just something on one of the motel room tv's from back when he was a kid.  
Sam estimated that it was about seven o'clock by how much the sun had set. Most of the stores were closed and people were either settling in to eat dinner or lounge around, watching tv with their family.  
There was no one out on the streets, so Sam felt it safe to wander down the middle of the road. He was hoping Gabriel would eventually come and find him before the sun went down, or else he'd have to go find a front yard he could sleep on.  
Moving around in the new body was tiring, but not straining.  
Sam was heading down the Main Street of the town that was lined with small shops. There were pawn shops, coffee shops, dress shops and little convenience stores. It was very underwhelming in terms of shopping spots to say the least.  
But there were a lot of large trees, and the end of the road looked out over a large field, acres and acres long with a forest on the other side. The trees were starting to turn orange, and leaves were rolling down the street, following the gentle breeze that the pre-evening had brought in. The sun was gold as it started to sink behind the treetops, illuminating the street that Sam was walking down and casting perfect shadows on the ground.  
The sun was warm on his face, and the air had a refreshing feeling to it that aired out his fur.  
Something darted into and out of vision somewhere to Sam's left and he was immediately alert.  
Quickly after though, he became relaxed as he realized it was just Gabriel.  
"Where have you been all day?" Sam asked, as the orange tabby gracefully strode up beside with him. It was kind of funny how many steps he had to take with his little cat legs to keep up with Sam's long strides; it mirrored how it usually was when they were in human bodies.  
"Exploring," Gabriel said, slowing down and then collapsing onto the warm pavement. "Did you find anything out?"  
Sam had stopped walking and spun around, staring down at Gabriel, who was rolling distractedly in the golden sun.  
"Yeah," Sam said, trying to focus. "We are in Rubart, Colorado. I think we could probably get from here to Raxelton if we can find a train anywhere. From my estimates, it's too far to walk."  
"I'm pretty sure we are in the middle of nowhere Sam, do you really think there will be any trains close?"  
That hadn't occurred to Sam before. He shook his head though, sure there would be one close. "Trains run in the country too Gabriel, not just in the city."  
"I'm not stupid Sam, I know that. I just don't think there would be any around this particular place."  
There was an image in Sam's mind that flashed up, and he was kind of surprised as he started to remember something. "Times," he said, turning his head, and suddenly focusing in on something.  
"Huh?" Gabriel said, not seeing why Sam was suddenly getting worked up.  
"I think... I think I saw a time chart on the newspaper I was reading. It might have been for the train."  
Gabriel laughed, a weird cat-laugh, as he thought of Sam trying to read a newspaper as a dog. "You what? Read a newspaper?"  
Sam nodded, glancing back at Gabriel who was starting to laugh as he rolled around on the ground. "Sort of. I kind of ripped of most of it in the process."  
Now that he thought about it, it was pretty funny. A half laugh half bark escaped his throat, and the noise made Gabriel - who had just started to stand up - fall back down, and keep laughing. By now even Sam was on the ground laughing, and the two of them were rolling around on their backs.  
If anyone was watching... well that would have been a sight to see, Sam thought.  
Eventually they calmed down and just lay there in the middle of the road in silence, autumn leaves occasionally rolling over them.  
The sun had sunk even lower, and Sam figured they should probably find a place to sleep soon.  
He was just about to speak when Gabriel got the jump ahead of him.  
"So how is you smell? Dogs are supposed to have amazing smell you know. Like 1000 times better than humans. Maybe even 10,000 times better."  
Sam looked curiously at cat-Gabriel. "Really?"  
He was pretty sure he'd heard something like that before, but he couldn't remember well.  
The thing about Sam was that he loved dogs. He always wanted one as a companion, but when he'd asked his dad, John had immediately shut him down, not even giving Sam a chance. Dogs had no place in a hunters life. They were just another life to worry about, and they needed lots of care - care that was better spent on learning about monsters and killing them.  
That had kind of just been the end of it.  
Common knowledge about dogs is usually picked up as a kid, but with the circle that Sam travelled in, he never learned a lot about them aside from the fact that they like getting their bellies rubbed, and have adorable little faces.  
Every time he was out in public and his brother wasn't there to make fun of him, Sam would always ask people if he could pet their dogs.  
When he'd gone off to college, he'd always considered getting a dog, but stopped himself because at the beginning of his college time, he was always afraid that his old life would come back to get him.  
Then he'd met Jess and fallen in love with her and she made this life he had feel like it could be a reality. Towards the end of his time with her, they'd talked about getting a dog to go with their little apartment and Sam finally for once felt like things would work out for him.  
Then Jess died, which proved to him that he couldn't have luxuries like the ones she'd given him, and also eliminated any chance of him finding normal companionship, either human or animal.  
He hadn't thought about getting a dog since the day she died.  
"No, everything smells normal to me, just like how my vision is normal."  
"Oh that sucks. Super smell would be kind of cool, don't you think?"  
"No because then I'd have to smell you all day, and i'd rather not."  
"Ouch, Sam. Have you taken a good whiff of me? Even as a cat I still smell like chocolate and all the good sweets. I'm what you wish you could smell all day."  
"Yeah okay," Sam said, smirking. He stood up, shaking out his fur of any leaves that had rolled over and gotten stuck to him.  
"Where you going Samio?" Gabriel asked, reluctant to get up.  
"As you can see, the sun is setting and I figure we only have a half an hour before it becomes pitch black."  
Gabriel stretched out again, letting the sun warm his stomach before he pounced up.  
"Where to?"  
"To the train station. I figured we could just find a place to sleep there and then if a train comes in early we'll wake up."  
"Alright," Gabriel said, glancing around. "But we'd best be quick."  
Neither of them made any notion of moving.  
"Are we going or not?" Gabriel asked, looking up at dog-Sam.  
"...Gabriel I have no idea where the train station is, I thought that part was clear."  
"Well your plan sure has some holes then doesn't it," Gabriel said, ducking between Sam's front legs and taking off down the road to the right of Sam that led towards the sun.  
Sam was pretty sure Gabriel didn't know where he was going, but he followed anywhere, figuring as long as they found /a place/ to sleep they'd be fine. He didn't really have high expectations, and figured being a dog, a didn't really have a need for them.  
After about ten minutes they came to a clearing at the end of the road that opened up to the train station they were looking for.  
"How did you know?" Sam asked, as he stepped cautiously over the train tracks and then ran over to the building where the tickets are purchased.  
"I had a feeling," Gabriel said, doing that ever famous cat-shrug.  
"It says here," Sam said, jumping up and resting his front paws against the station time table. "That there is going to be a train in at 7 o'clock tomorrow morning."  
Gabriel sighed, and lay down in the warm grass that the now orange sun was shining on. It was half hidden behind the tree line now. "Nice and early. Too bad I'm not a morning person."  
"Are you an any day kind of person?"  
"Don't sass me. I found this place, you should be nice to me."  
Sam jumped down from the timetable and stood over Gabriel, blocking the sun from the cat's belly. "You totally knew it was here, don't even pretend."  
"What! No I didn't!" Gabriel said, mocking horror. "I told you I had a feeling. A feline gift one could call it."  
"Liar," Sam said, doing another bark-laugh. "You totally found this place earlier today, don't even pretend."  
Gabriel held his paws up in surrender. "Caught red handed," he cursed. "Now can you step out of my light? I figure I only have a few minutes of this left."  
Sam stepped out of his way and then started making his way across the field to an old train car that was sitting upright at the base of a hill.  
"I'm gonna sleep in here," Sam called out, as he hopped up onto the train car, looking around. There was nothing in it except for a couple of old wooden crates. The shadows obstructed Sam's view of the boxes, but he was betting there was probably some mould of some kind growing on them. Using his hind legs he experimentally pushed one of them over towards the rest.  
Nothing living came out of them and he exhaled in relief as he started pushing the boxes together on the other side of the car.  
After a couple minutes he settled down on the floor and looked out at the field where Gabriel was jumping around, distracted by a butterfly.  
It had become a great amusement to Sam to try and imagine Gabriel as a human doing these things that his cat-self were doing. He pictured the archangel prancing around the field, clapping his hands above his head trying to get the butterfly. Eventually he'd get frustrated and just reveal his own wings, lifting himself up at impossible speed to get it.  
Gabriel was the kind of guy to take shortcuts to say the least.  
The sun was moments from dropping behind the tree line. Gabriel stalked through the grass and jumped up, finally grabbing the little yellow butterfly between his paws before releasing it and making his way over to Sam.  
"What? You didn't eat it? No crushing it to death?" Sam asked, inquiring about Gabriel's simple catch and release.  
"Eat it? What do you think I am?"  
"I don't know, I just didn't think you'd let it go."  
"It doesn't deserve to die by my hand."  
Gabriel hopped up onto the train car to the left of Sam and found a comfortable place beside him.  
That was awfully... not Gabriel thing to say.  
Sam shunned himself at thinking that the moment he said it in his head. Gabriel was the archangel of Justice, and frankly Sam was pretty sure he was not as dickish as Gabriel was letting on. Just in this one day alone, Sam was seeing different sides of Gabriel that he'd never met.  
There was a lot more to Gabriel than he had thought, and while he'd caught a glance of who Gabriel was when he had confronted Lucifer, Sam was positive there was so much more.  
The two of them sat together quietly, looking at the sun as it disappeared behind the trees finally.  
A space in between the trees shone like a bright beacon, lighting up the car they were sitting at, and as Sam glanced over, he was taken by how beautifully Gabriel's eyes were glowing.  
They were like a colour he'd never seen before, that he was just experiencing for the first time.  
He'd always thought they were just hazel, similar to his own but more brown than green. Now that the sun shone into them and Sam was getting a good look - a really, really good look at the eyes... he realized they shone with the brightness and shine of gold, but they texture and colour of amber, and in their own sense were indescribable.  
Sam couldn't help but stare. He almost felt hypnotized by the warm feeling that pulsed through him as they looked at them - old, aged, humorous, fair and just plain... beautiful.  
"Sam? You okay?" Gabriel asked with a quiet purr. The archangel could feel Sam's stare pouring deeply inside of him, and it felt good. It made him feel at ease, and he couldn't help but start to purr at the calmness Sam's stare was bringing him.  
Sam blinked and snapped his head around, suddenly falling out of his trance-like state as the beacon from the trees disappeared and Gabriel's eyes stopped glowing.  
"I... I-uh, yeah." He stared down at his paws, his eyes open wide in confusion.  
"You were seeing some of my Grace, that's why you are feeling the way you do," Gabriel said calmly.  
"Your Grace? I thought that your Grace was gone."  
"It's stored. Stored deep inside me, but I'm unable to grasp it. It's like an itch I can't scratch, just nagging me constantly. But just then, when you were looking at it, the nag went away and..." Gabriel was almost at a loss for words at how it had felt for his Grace to be touched.  
Yes, in a sense Sam Winchester had just touched his Grace. With his eyes.  
Not unusual at all.  
It was a weird and wonderful feeling to be able to feel his Grace being held for a moment, even if it wasn't a full part of him right now - but it was there, and it's presence inside of him was reassuring.  
The feeling was like a starving man finally being given food after weeks of hunger, and that first bite he takes feels like heaven itself. After the first bite, he savours it, and let's himself feel the afterglow of that amazing morsel of food /finally/ being met with his mouth. But soon the feeling fades, and he'll grow hungry again for another bite.  
Gabriel was still in the afterglow, trying to cling to the wonderful feeling.  
He closed his eyes and rest them down on his paws, hoping it would last a little bit longer.  
Sam stared down at the resting cat, noting how completely relaxed Gabriel was. He could hear a soft purr coming from him, his chest rising and falling in contentment.  
Sam was trying to wrap his head around the fact he'd just /seen an angels Grace/ according to Gabriel. He had some questions he wanted to ask. Some were questions he'd kind of always wanted to ask about angels and their Grace, but looking at Gabriel he decided they could wait until tomorrow.  
He lay his head back down in his paws and looked at Gabriel one more time before closing his eyes.  
"Goodnight," Sam whispered quietly, wondering if Gabriel was actually going to end up sleeping. He guessed he would have to - cats were the ones that were supposed to sleep for like 20 hours a day weren't they?  
He had no idea, but by the way Gabriel was purring (which partially resembled snoring) Sam guessed that the cat-archangel was definitely going to be getting a nice rest.  
The image of Gabriel's eyes warmed Sam into sleep, and he was snoring along with Gabriel in moments.


End file.
